Trump made the statements on Monday following violence over the weekend in Charlottesville, Virginia, but he did not name the group that several media accounts now identify as primarily responsible for starting the trouble – the openly communist, violent far-left “Antifa.”

The “Unite The Right” rally, headlined by “alt-right” figurehead Richard Spencer, was scheduled to hold a protest at Emancipation Park (formerly Lee Park) to protest the planned removal of an equestrian statue of Robert E. Lee and had obtained a permit for the gathering.

Three people were ultimately killed, though none in the actual fights. One woman died when a car barreled into a crowd of leftist protesters and two when a police helicopter crashed nearby. Dozens were injured throughout the day.

Yet Republicans were largely silent about the responsibility of the Virginia state government, the Charlottesville police and the left-wing radicals for allowing the violence to take place. Paul Nehlen, author of “Wage the Battle” and a Republican primary challenger to Republican Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, said the media outrage about “extremism” has been highly selective.

“The violence was brought on by the counter-protesters who ironically ply their violent trade under the banner Antifa and who hold to the view that ‘disagreement authorizes our violence,'” Nehlen told WND. “The MSM (mainstream media) are running cover for Antifa for the purposes of smearing President Trump, essentially saying ‘the policies of this president cause violence.’ This is clearly untrue. It is the actions of people like George Soros, who fund Antifa, Black Lives Matter and other perpetrators of violence, who are to blame.”

“The media has embraced the Democratic Party, which has lurched toward Marxism and open communism,” he argued. “Ignoring the fact that those failed policies have resulted in the deaths of millions, the media blindly support the Democrats, who at this moment are working to squelch the First Amendment rights of American citizens.”

Nehlen accused journalists of practicing “virtue signaling” instead of journalism and said they are more eager to display their supposed “anti-racism” instead of reporting what is actually happening.

“The left gets its rewards not from pleasing God, but from pleasing themselves by virtue signaling to one another,” he said.

The phenomenon, he argued, fuels the growth of what Trump has called “fake news,” as journalists push a political narrative instead of reporting facts.

The narrative of Trump being somehow responsible for racism was still promoted by mainstream media outlets following the president’s condemnation of white supremacy. Jim Acosta, Katy Tur, Dan Rather and other journalists complained soon after the president’s speech he either was not sincere or did not go far enough.

Nehlen suggested the whole story about Charlottesville is being reported backward.

“I’m a bit perplexed at the glaring omission by President Trump to call out the Antifa and BLM groups inciting violence at the pre-arranged event,” Nehlen told WND.

He also said other conservative leaders, notably Paul Ryan, were even worse in refusing to mention the existence of the far left.

“The so-called conservative members are cowards, but worse than that, they are traitors,” he said. “The small group of legitimate protesters who followed the law to protest a historic statue’s removal were pummeled and their rights were trampled. Those elected officials sided with the bad guys. They failed their oath of office and their sacred duty to the citizens of America.

“Also, and I think this is an important point, many of these elected officials would benefit from the removal of President Trump from office. We can’t discount the possibility that these same elected officials who failed their oath were acting in a self-serving manner. Even those who were supposed to be ‘conservatives’ were partnering with and virtue signaling to a complicit news media.”

Rather than investigating the far-right, Nehlen urged Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the Republican Congress to take action to defend free speech.

“There seems to be a pattern of ‘stand down’ orders, and it’s something that Attorney General Sessions should be investigating,” Nehlen said. “Paul Ryan should introduce legislation withholding funds from jurisdictions who fail to defend the constitutional rights of their citizens.

“I think there is an effort in place to take away Americans’ right to free speech. But there is also a core of us who will fight to the death before we let that happen.”